High Risk Situations
by Temperance Rose
Summary: What happens when Meredith finds out some information that terrifies her? Meredith discovers that however hard you try to run away, you will always be caught out in the end. Mer/Der, Alex/Izzie...there may be an Addison appearance. CHAPTER FOUR ADDED
1. Chapter 1

**ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHTED TO GREY'S ANATOMY, I OWN NOTHING! Belive me...you would know if I did!**

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The wind whistled through the gnarled trees, straining against their tired roots, warped with age. Thunder rattled the houses and lightening lit up Seattle. It must be one of the worst storms of the year but because there always seemed to be a heavy downpour of rain it was difficult to determine. Meredith Grey sat hunched by the window, just watching the rain hit the glass. It was completely dark in her mother's old house apart from a strip of light under Izzie's door. This was a typical scenario, Meredith at her most dark and twisty. Those days were Derek would be on call and she would have a night off, she would just sit and watch. It had been almost two years since her mother's death and it had been playing on her mind greatly, a thing she and Lexie had in common, an absent mother, but for Meredith she'd lost a mother and a surrogate mother. She'd learnt early on, life is tough, but you have to get through it, yes, you have to make it through- one day at a time.

A huge crash of thunder and a hand on her shoulder made her jump. Spinning around to face Derek who had an amused and slightly crooked smile of his face "What kind of person sits in the dark in the middle of a thunderstorm" he asked, tilting his head.

Meredith got to her feet, grabbing her sweatshirt and heading to her room, turning her head to respond "I do and why aren't you working?" She sat down on her bed watching him as he followed her.

He stopped at the threshold to her room, leaning against the doorframe "I managed to worm my way out of it" he stepped into her room and climbed into the bed, wrapping his arms around her and putting his face into the crook of her neck and murmuring "Time for us to be alone". She giggled and turned her head so she could kiss him; loving the safe feeling she always got in his arms. She'd never imagined life could be like this and her life at home could be so...comfortable. "You smell good" he whispered in her ear, kissing her down her neck.

"Oh you bet I do" she murmured, smiling as she looked into his eyes, so mcdreamy! They heard a door shut and Derek sat up, ever since Izzie had walked in on them they'd been slightly more careful. But the footsteps were heavier this time and the voice deeper. It wasn't Alex; it was time for Meredith to sit up as well; why was the chief in their house? Derek left first and she heard their voices, quick and worried.

She moved out into the corridor where Richard Webber stood, her almost surrogate father. Seeing as neither of her parents had done their jobs well enough she'd ended up with two sets of parents. "What's going on?" she ran a hand through her already tousled blonde hair.

"There's been an accident Mer, they need everyone in the hospital" Meredith nodded, this was serious; Derek's forehead always creased when something serious was going on. Like when Addison had come back. They hadn't seen her in a while, a stiff phone call every so often; you can only be so civil to your husband's ex. By this time Izzie and Alex were in the hallway, ready to go. Bracing themselves against the bitter wind and freezing rain they pelted outside toward their cars. Derek shielded Meredith from the rain by wrapping his arm around her, and in the midst of everything Meredith smiled. Her knight in shining amour...when had she got so lovey-dovey?

Meredith and Derek climbed into their car and followed Richard, Izzie and Alex behind them. Meredith tilted her head back, "Do you know anything about what actually happened?" she stifled a yawn, she had been expecting a small amount of sleep but now it seemed like she'd get none at all.

Derek shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road "All I know is that two cars collided and in the dark with so much rain not many people noticed until they'd joined in on the crash"

Meredith shivered "That could have been you"

"I know" Derek murmured, "I thought that too", he took her hand in his "I took a different route from usual today, I wanted to get home to you and there's normally traffic".

Meredith lifted his hand to her cheek and kissed each finger, reminded of the dreams she had had after the house of candles. "You know, a while ago I would always dream you'd been in an accident. It, it scared me" They sat in silence for a long time, after they pulled up outside the hospital nurses arrived to hand them their scrubs and protective wear. Meredith and Derek failed to meet each others eyes. Meredith felt a strange sensation in her stomach, had she committed some wrong in their relationship, being too needy by admitting how much she cared?

She was suddenly pulled backward and felt Derek's mouth on hers. When he pulled her upright her murmured "I would never leave you, never be scared like that. Anyway, I'm a surgeon, I wouldn't put myself in such a high risk situation" He finished with a peck on the check and ran off after the attendings.

Meredith spun round "High risk situation? You're a surgeon for god's sake!" she yelled after him. Then she called to her interns and ran to where the ambulances where coming in, she spotted Christina, Lexie following her looking bewildered. She permitted herself a small smile, Lexie had proved herself time and time again- she'd earned her older sister's respect.

She'd never seen so much carnage from one car accident. So many people were carried into the hospital, groaning in pain and calling out for their loved ones. She took a young girl and with her interns began pushing her into the hospital. The girl was unconscious, her hair matted with blood and across her face. With a spare hand Meredith pushed it away and they wheeled her into a room of her own, checking her for any other signs of injury apart from the gash on her head and a broken arm. After they found none, the stitched her up and Meredith left an intern to deal with the arm, heading back into the carnage.

This was going to be a long night.

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	2. Chapter 2

**First off, a huge thank you to everyone who has subscribed to story alert or has done favourite story- an extra big hug for thos who reviewed! **

**This chapter doesn't have much, I just wanted to show you how the relationship between Lexie and Meredith has changed.**

**I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS**

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Jesus, this accident had been big. Meredith had been working for three hours solid and ambulances were still coming in every few minutes, she had changed her gloves more times than she could count and there were blood stains on her scrubs. She realised that the traumas were becoming worse; they must be getting closer to the centre of the crash. Owen leapt from patient to patient, a gaggle of interns close behind him, at each patient one of them broke away to continue his work.

"Doctor Grey!" She rubbed her eyes tiredly and spun round, the origin of the voice- Doctor Bailey was sprinting toward her, her hands grasping the rails of a gurney on which lay a man covered in blood and unconscious. He was in the worst condition of anyone Meredith had seen so far, his face was bruised and cut, his right leg was at an impossible angle- Meredith pulled his shirt open and her eyes widened in shock. A huge purple bruise spread across the man's abdomen and when she put her fingers to it she realised it was rock solid. This man had a severe case of internal bleeding. As they raced down the corridors an intern reeled off his stats.

"John Doe, about 36 year's old, broken leg, possible fractured skull..."

"And a severe case on internal bleeding, this man needs surgery now!" Meredith continued, pushing the intern out of the way as they headed into the operating room. People parted before them without a word, those who had only been slightly injured by the crash stood in the overcrowded corridors, some holding gauze to their bleeding noses, others nursing cuts or broken bones. As they prepared him for surgery Meredith found a wallet in the man's trouser pocket. Opening it she saw a bloodstained photo of a young woman standing on a ferry, a child clung to her hand with grim determination. Dragging her eyes away from the photo, she took in the name on the credit card 'Adam Smith'. "His name's Adam Smith" she murmured to Bailey who nodded.

"I'm going to need you to leave Doctor Grey; I can take it from here"

"But...why the hell did you call me in the first place?" Meredith replied, angry.

"I called you here because I thought I would need your help" Bailey kept her tone calm as she pulled on the surgical gloves "But this man was the cause of the crash and it's going to take a miracle for him to survive. So, I want you to get your ass out there and tell those people waiting to see whether their loved ones are alive or dead that we have found the cause of all of their pain and therefore" she paused, watching Meredith's startled eyes. "All of the people who were injured in the crash should either be here, being treated- or they will have been transferred. Karev's way of identifying John and Jane Does is being used and the list of people who have been transferred will be complete. Go out there and tell those people who are terrified that their family members are dead, what is going on" she paused "now!"

Meredith nodded, pulling off her gloves and running into the crowded waiting area. Immediately she was swamped by people, pulling at her from every side. She could hear their cries as they pleaded with her for information of Johnny, Sam, Lizzie, Kate, Josie, Ben, Dave; the list went on. She threw up her hands, pulling free of everyone around her and the room became silent. "Listen" she hollered "We have the man who is responsible for the crash in surgery now. This means that we should have found everyone involved in the crash" as soon as the words were out of her mouth a murmur went around the room. Meredith continued "We have photos of everyone who hasn't been identified. They have been sorted into three groups, those that have come in unconscious and we need to keep them in the hospital for the time being, people in surgery..." she paused, not knowing how to phrase the next category.

"What's the third?" A tall woman called from the back, her cheeks covered in tear tracks.

"The third is those that didn't make it" Meredith finished and a man beside her gasped, she felt a hand constricting at her heart as she saw the pain in everyone's faces. "If your loved ones' photos are not up on the board please see reception as they may have been transferred to another hospital" but hardly anyone was listening to her. They were all crowded around the board but no one was talking. Some people clutched the photos to them, hugging the nearest person in relief; whilst others pulled the photo of the board with disbelief, tears falling freely down their cheeks. She had to get away.

She turned to go when a small hand caught her arm. A small boy with a mop of tousled red hair and green eyes looked up at her. "Thank you" he said quietly and a lump formed in her throat. She nodded and gave a small smile, turning and leaving. She hurried down the corridor, trying not to take in all of the people standing around. She headed for the broom closet and opened it...to find it already occupied. Lexie sat on an upturned bucket, wiping her eyes with a well used tissue; it was almost like seeing Addison in there again, "Lexie" her voice was questioning, over time she'd become fond of her baby sister. She climbed into the cramped space, turning up another bucket and sitting down "What's up?"

"I'm sorry Meredith, it's not professional to be affected by all of this but...there are just so many people and..."

Meredith shushed her and put her arm around her, this was an extreme show of affection even after all of this time and Lexie was extremely surprised. "I know Lex, I know" Meredith murmured "Why do you think I came here?"

"So, it doesn't go away?"

"For some people yes, normally I'm not so emotional" she wiped her eyes with her sleeve "It just reminds me of the ferry accident"

"Yeah, Derek told me about that"

Meredith didn't know whether to be upset or just plain pissed, that was her business, not Lexie's, she sighed, now wasn't the time to fight with her boyfriend "When I woke up there were so many people waiting around to find out if their relatives were alright. Izzie told me that Derek sat in the corridor for hours" the thought was painful, her loyal boyfriend, she didn't deserve him. If she told Derek that, he'd just get angry. She gave a small shake of her head; she'd never leave him though...even if she didn't deserve him.

"Meredith" Lexie mumbled "when you were...you know"

"Dead"

"Yeah" Lexie continued uncomfortably "was there anything? Like a special place?"

"You mean heaven?" Meredith asked with a small laugh, she stopped as soon as she saw her half-sister's face "You're thinking about Susan aren't you" Lexie nodded, looking down at her lap "Well..." she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her this, it was to personal. She stood up, "I have to go" then she noticed the tears falling down Lexie's face and she sat back down, resigned "Ok, I was... in the hospital"

"I know, you were..."

"No Lex, I was in the hospital- in the afterlife sense"

"Do all the patients go there?" This was Lexie's worst nightmare, her mother hated hospitals.

"No, I think it's different for everyone, Denny said it was my afterlife"

"Denny? Wasn't he..."

"Izzie's fiancé? Yes, he was. There was also two other old patients- one had been my mother's scrub nurse, and a young girl who we couldn't save. There was Dylan who'd saved me from a bomb that had been in the hospital," she paused "and Doc" she smiled "my dog"

"But why were they all there? Surely the old patients couldn't have been that important to you."

Meredith sighed "They said...that they were all there to save me, that they had to before the could truly be at peace"

"But the man who saved you from the bomb..."

"Dylan said he could travel from my afterlife to his"

Lexie nodded slowly and finally said "Didn't your mother die moments before you came round?"

There was a long silence and Lexie wondered if she'd overstepped the mark, but Meredith nodded "I saw her briefly...but it was enough to make up for all of the time we spent apart"

Lexie looked at her half-sister who was no longer watching her, her hands were tightly clasped in her lap and her eyes firmly fixed on them. "Thank you Meredith" Lexie said finally and got up from the bucket, squeezing herself over to the door. Meredith nodded, not saying a word "Meredith?" she lifted her eyes to her sister who was standing by the open door "You should tell Derek, I know it was none was none of my business to ask but I think he'd like to know. You're good together"

Meredith chuckled and smiled "Thanks Lex"

"No problem" Lexie answered with a smile and left Meredith to her thoughts.

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	3. Chapter 3

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**THANKS FOR EVERYONE'S REVIEWS AND FURTHER STORY ALERT/FAVOURITES! ON THE LENGTH FRONT, THEY ARE THREE A4 PAGES TYPED AND I'M TRYING BUT I DECIDED NOT TO EXTEND THIS CHAPTER FURTHER. **

**I OWN NOTHING!**

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The night had been long and the surgeries strenuous, her neck was too stiff to move and as time past it was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open. But now it was 7pm the next day and she hadn't been home since the accident- Derek had arrived home at 8pm so that meant she had gone without sleep for over 24 hours. She needed to go home and have a long hot bath. Walking down the multitude of corridors in Seattle Grace she finally spotted the chief looking at the board. Her eyes immediately spotted a multitude of interesting surgeries and she looking wistfully at them, fingering the sparkle pager in her pocket which she had managed to steal back from Christina.

"Don't even think about it Grey" the calming yet commanding voice startled her and she turned to the chief. "You've been working to long without a break, home now and I don't want to se you till at least this time tomorrow. I will page you when you are to begin your shift, today was meant to be your day off" Meredith groaned, she was sure she'd seen a Whipple scheduled for tomorrow morning, just her luck. She stalked back into the residents' locker room and changed into her everyday clothes, pulling on her coat and grabbing her bag. She passed Christina on her way out of the hospital, she looked annoyingly refreshed.

"Whoa, you don't look so good"

"Leave it out Christina; I haven't slept in over twenty four hours"

"And why would you want to inflict your tired annoying self on others?"

"Because there was an accident last night, multiple trauma cases, amazing surgeries..."

"And no one paged me! Oh, Owen is so dead!" she sprinted into the hospital and Meredith watched as her best friend hurtled into her boyfriend of six months' office. She slowly counted to three and on cue the outraged cry of "You didn't page me!" hit her from 200 meters away.

She left the hospital, driving home she noticed the roads were almost dead, flowers were tied against lamp-posts and she sighed, you could never escape work. The man who had caused the crash had been intoxicated with alcohol; the picture in his pocket had been of his wife and child who had been killed in the ferry accident so long ago. It made her feel sick, all the times she had drank and then driven...you never thought it was going to happen to you. Since being with Derek she had never really drank to excess, she now swore resolutely never again to drive after having even only one drink.

She pulled up outside her house and climbed out of the car, a light was on in Izzie and Alex's bedroom window, they'd gone home as soon as possible. She smiled, the engaged couple were always clamouring for extra time together, god only knew how spoilt their children would be.

Everything in the house was quiet, there was the occasional giggle from Izzie- Meredith slightly envied them for their ability to talk without thinking- it didn't matter what they said to one another, they just understood; and after the Denny situation she didn't blame them. She ran herself a steaming bath and as she climbed in she let out a small hiss as she felt the hot water working magic on her tired muscles. Derek was probably asleep at the hospital, even as a resident she was worked extremely hard- Derek was only really needed for his speciality and when he was, he couldn't leave.

She was so exhausted she couldn't be bothered to eat; she wandered sleepily into the kitchen. Her slippers slapped against the floor and she pulled her silk dressing gown tightly around herself. God bless Izzie, she must have seen her and how exhausted she had been. A toasted sandwich and a cup of cocoa sat on the counter. Meredith grabbed then still warm sandwich and began to eat, relishing the wholesome food, the cocoa added to her tiredness and it was all she could do to get back into her room before she collapsed on her bed and fell fast asleep.

She woke up feeling awful, the stomach was cramping and her throat felt thick, there was an empty space were Derek usually was. She hated this, she knew that when she moved she would immediately be sick...and that was the worst feeling in the world as she knew that this feeling wouldn't go away unless she got it out of her system. She sprinted for the bathroom and got there just in time. Tears streamed down her face as she retched.

That's how Izzie and Alex found her, Izzie moved quickly, pushing Alex out of the way and moving to Meredith to hold her hair out of the way. When she was finished Izzie tenderly wiped her face clean and ran her a warm bath. Meredith was still slightly shell shocked. After Meredith's bath Izzie put her into some clean clothes and put her back to bed, pushing the hair away from her pale face. "Sleep" she said tenderly, turning out the lights, "You'll feel better" But she didn't feel better, she felt awful. Eventually Alex placed a bucket by her bed with a 'rabbit-caught-in-headlights' look before he sprinted from the room, terrified it was contagious.

By one pm Meredith was exhausted and Derek still wasn't home. Izzie knocked lightly on the door and Meredith turned over in bed "Come in" she groaned softly.

"Hey Mer" Izzie's normally chirpy voice had been dialled down considerably and for that Meredith was truly grateful. "How are you feeling?"

"Crappy" she answered with a dry chuckle

Izzie sat down at the end of the bed "Did you eat something bad or..."

Meredith shook her head "Did you eat something bad?"

"Iz" Meredith said horsely "the only things I eat are hospital food or your food...sometimes restaurant food and sometimes Chinese food...even though I hate it. But we haven't eaten or ordered out in ages" she sighed "It's probably a stomach bug or something"

Izzie didn't look so sure "Meredith" she took on of her hands "I know it isn't any of my business but...are you late?"

There was a small silence, "Shit!" Meredith's hands flew to her mouth "Oh God this isn't happening!"

Izzie grabbed her shoulders "Mer, calm down and stay here" she flew from the room, leaving Meredith alone.

There way no way she could raise a baby! She tried getting up, but the dizziness made her land back on the bed again with a thump. Derek would be thrilled...or would he? Now was not the best time to be having a baby. She was a fourth year resident and Derek was a hard working attending- she didn't want her children to have the same childhood as her. But would they? She knew she was nothing like her mother in personality; they'd never agreed on things and she was sure that she wouldn't ever ignore her child. But this was dark and twisty Meredith! She had no idea how to look after a baby, that was a job for people like Alex and Izzie who were so happy...but so were she and Derek.

She heard footsteps and Izzie came back in, handing her a small package, a pregnancy test. Izzie gave a small nod and before she knew it she was alone again. She turned the box over in her hands there was only one way to find out.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you so much for all the support everyone's given me and I'm sorry this has taken so long...school hasn't been easy since I've gone back. **

**I hope you enjoy this chapter and can guess who it is at the end! I OWN NOTHING! **

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Shit. Her hands were shaking as she held the test in her tiny hands. Tears fell freely from her pale blue eyes and she angrily threw it across the room. She had to get away, everything around her seemed to go cold and she started grabbing at clothes wildly, she struggled into a pair of jeans and a polo neck jumper, pushing her still damp blonde hair from her face. Her cell began to ring and she grabbed it, wiping fiercely at her eyes as if the person at the other end could see her.

"Hello?" her voice didn't waver at all

"Hey Mer, sweetie it's me"

"Derek" she paused, drawing in a shaky breath "Where have you been?"

"Back to back surgeries and its starting again in about three hours"

"Then try to get some sleep, it's ok"

"Are you sure?"

"It's fine"

"Bye Derek"

"Bye Meredith, I love..."

She put the phone down- she had to get this sorted away from people who knew her, she searched quickly for an ob-gyn and picked the first practice she found 'Oceanside Well Care' gathering up her now packed suitcase she crept out into the hall, leaving her cell on the dining table. She didn't see Izzie or Alex on her way out, or any of the people who normally turned up at her home- Christina (who would be in surgery), Lexie or Mark (who would come with Lexie). Throwing her suitcase in the back she drove quickly away, LA, she could be there if she drove till morning- and while she did she could mull over her thoughts.

Pregnant.

There was no way she could be responsible for raising a child, that was something that Izzie was looking forward to with Alex- she and Derek hadn't even discussed the possibility of kids. Sure she had freaked out over her 'five chatty children and a chatty husband' but they hadn't even got to the husband thing yet...it was just the chatty boyfriend. Oh God she couldn't do this....but she couldn't not do this, it would be the end of her and Derek. She knew she had to go through with having this baby, this life- but she was terrified of doing it wrong. She didn't want to be like her mother, a distant mother who took no notice of her child. She had wanted to be a mother who could take time off for her child safely and pick them up from school at the end of the day. She wanted to be the person her child would love more than anyone in the world; she never wanted to have to use a nanny.

But quite frankly that was going to be impossible, she was in the middle of her residency and her boyfriend, her baby's father, was head of Neurosurgery at the same hospital as her and could barely get away to see her. The place they saw the most of each other was at the hospital and unless this baby was born, already qualified from medical school, it seemed impossible that they would be able to spend the proper amount of time with it.

The tears began to fall again but Meredith blinked hard, she turned up the music, loud and kept driving.

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"Meredith?" Derek opened the door to their house and stepped inside "Honey I'm home" he gave one of his 'McDreamy' grins, but no one came running or even walking to greet him- there was no voice calling him. Sometimes this would happen and he would hear her crying from a room for some reason or another but this time there was nothing. A dead silence. "Meredith?" he called, worry beginning to creep into his voice. He opened the door to their room but there was no one there, clothes lay scattered on the floor. The panic set in "Meredith!" he began to run from room, opening the doors but he didn't find anyone. Running out into the garden he found Izzie and Alex calmly sitting on the ground chatting. They both looked up at him, curious at why he looked so frightened.

"Derek, what's wrong?" Izzie climbed to her feet.

"I can't..." he began to pace, running his hand through his hair "I can't find Meredith anywhere"

Alex also stood up, frowning "After this morning she should still be sleeping"

Derek spun around "Why? What happened this morning?"

"She kept being sick, we looked after her and we tried to call you but..."

"Her car wasn't in the drive" a cold hand gripped Derek's stomach, what if she'd been hurt? It was icy out there.

Izzie shook her head "Relax Derek, she's probably just gone out to get some smoothie or something, to make her feel better you know?"

"But she didn't tell me about her being sick! She..."

"She probably didn't want to worry you" Izzie replied calmly "She'll have taken her cell, I'll give her a call" she walked briskly into the kitchen and leant to pick up the phone, her eyes strayed to the dining room table and were immediately attracted to the cell phone on the table- where ever Meredith had gone, she didn't want to be found.

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At last Meredith pulled up outside the Practice with a tired smile. No one would know she was the 'slutty intern' here. As she got the elevator a tall man with dark brown hair got in beside her, he was quite handsome in a way but not even close to Derek. She thought to what would have happened had she been in Seattle, they would already be flirting. She giggled, the man turned and looked at her with a confused expression and she giggled again. She shook her head, she was never like this...maybe it was just her being tired. "I'm sorry" she paused "It's just, where I come from elevators tend to be this kind of aphrodisiac, you know? People get on them and they just get all horny." The man looked at her as if he'd seen a ghost and she was sure she heard him mutter 'not another one' as he climbed quickly off the elevator. She looked at the floor for a moment, turning pink with embarrassment which was rare for her...but then again she was never normally that stupid.

She realised she was on the right floor and stepped quickly off of the elevator and into a room with warm yellow walls and wooden beams. She could see the offices of all the doctors to the side of the room...this must be nice, away from all the grime of surgery. She saw the man she had met in the elevator go into one of the offices and mentally cursed herself, not off to a good start. She walked up to the reception desk where a kid who looked half her age was answering phone-calls. "Hi I'm here to see your OB-GYN" the boy took no notice and scribbled something down, Meredith became annoyed "Um, excuse me?" the boy put down the phone.

"Yes, sorry...can I take your name please?"

He was interrupted as a tall woman with short red hair wearing a beautiful blue dress and amazing high heels floated into the practice, taking some of the files off the desk. "Hi Dell, what have you got for me today?" she asked.

Dell smiled at her "Well, your first patient is..."

Meredith turned and scuttled away, trying to keep her head down. This could not be happening to her, it was just a cruel twist of fate that it had to be this practice that house the double board certified....

"Meredith Grey!" She'd been spotted, taking a deep breath, Meredith turned to face her fate.

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